


Cookies in the Quad

by darwinsdonut



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: College AU, Cookies, F/M, Fluff, Mention of Dexter Grif, Mention of Freckles, Moonlight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 12:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darwinsdonut/pseuds/darwinsdonut
Summary: Kaikaina hasn't been sleeping well since she got to college. On a midnight venture to look at the moon and calm her mind, she meets the sweetest stranger.





	Cookies in the Quad

It had been a long night and the walls of the dorms settled with creaks and groans in the canyon winds. Kaikaina lay awake for long hours, shifting around in her bed, wishing for sleep and groaning as it continued to evade her. Her dreams since her arrival to university had been inexplicably nightmarish- glimpses of danger that woke her each morning confused and exhausted. It had come to the point she didn’t even want to sleep. She wondered if Dex was awake; she hated disturbing him, but… She needed a friend. 

A mild night greeted her as she headed out in floral pajama shorts and a henley and bunny slippers. The stars were muted by the city lights, but she glimpsed a few by the bright shining half-moon. She paused for a moment, lingering in the quad with her shadowed eyes turned toward the sky. It was a nice night out- maybe… Maybe she didn’t need to bother her brother, but would be just fine getting a snack from the vending machine and hanging out in the quad. Not the _safest_ option, but… That was why Kaikaina always carried a knife. 

It was a quick matter to purchase a bag of cookies and return to a cold metal bench. Kaikaina sat and looked at the moon, humming tunes of nostalgia, and began to eat her cookies. She had only downed two when she heard footsteps. 

She glanced up to see someone exit the door to the boys’ dorm. Bulky, broad-shouldered, probably a head taller than her. Blue t-shirt. Curly brown hair. She didn’t think she knew him, and that worried her, but he had his head down and hadn’t even spotted her. 

Kaikaina took another bite of the cookie in her hand, peripherally watching the stranger, her eyes on a birch tree shifting in the wind. The stranger came closer, but still never lifted his head. 

He was almost to the square of benches where she sat when he looked up and started. “Oh! Oh- I- hi, sorry, I- I- didn’t mean to- I didn’t know you were here.” 

Kaikaina couldn’t help but smile. “No problem, kid. Long night?” 

He yawned and sat down on the bench opposite from her. “I can’t sleep.” 

“Oh, me either,” Kaikaina said. A breeze fluttered her curls past her face and she brushed them away with long fingers. “Something keeping you up?” 

“I miss my sisters,” Caboose said. 

Kaikaina’s eyebrows rose. “Where are they?” 

“On the moon.” 

She glanced up at the celestial body she’d been talking to. Her smile widened. “Really?” 

“Well, no, not really. But I think it would be really cool to live on the moon. But I have seventeen sisters, and that’s kind of a lot to get to the moon.” 

Kaikaina saw the sparkle gleaming in his deep blue eyes as he looked at the moon. She asked, “Seventeen sisters? That’s a lot.” 

“Yeah, but we were all pretty close growing up,” he said. “Except Mackie and Milly. They were close to themselves. They were really funny. I liked them, they played the best of jokes, but our mom said they lived in their own little world. Like turtles in the same shell- or hermit crabs- or- I’m probably talking too much. I’m sorry.” 

“Hi, Sorry, I’m Kaikaina.” 

He smiled at that. “I’m actually Michael O’Malley. But for some reason, my friends call me Caboose. I never did get that.” 

Kaikaina sensed a story there, but that was a box to leave closed for the night. “Hmm. I had friends who called me Sister, because they knew my brother, but usually when they get to know the real me they switch to Kaikaina.” 

He leaned forward. “Are you not very sisterly?” 

Kaikaina chuckled. “No. Only to my brother.” 

“Oh- oh, who’s your brother?” 

“Dexter Grif? He’s a third-year.” 

“I’m a first-year,” Michael said. “So I don’t know a lot of people. But I’m sure he’s nice!” 

Kaikaina laughed. “Not exactly. Hey, do you want some cookies?” 

“Cookies?” 

Kaikaina nodded. 

He glanced at the bag in her hand. “Only if you are absolutely sure you do not mind. Sharing cookies is a very generous thing to do because cookies are sacred.” 

She already liked him. 

“I agree, but if you’re as tired as I am, you could use some vending machine chocolate chips,” she said. 

“I really, really could.” 

They made eye contact and he looked nervous, so Kaikaina lifted from her seat and moved to sit by him. She plopped down beside him and handed him a few cookies, greeting him with a smile. This close, she could see the freckled olive complexion, stout nose, broad cheeks. But the best part was the wide-lipped smile, that not only stretched his lips but squinted his eyes and etched laugh-lines and could probably light up the whole world. 

“Thank you! You know, you’re probably the nicest person I’ve ever met, to just share your cookies with me like this.” 

It was a smile and a voice she couldn’t help but smile back at. “And you’re probably the sweetest.” 

A moment of comfortable silence followed the words as they munched on cookies in the quiet, windy night. A shiver ran over her as the breeze raised chills along her skin. 

“So why couldn’t you sleep?” Michael asked. 

Kaikaina shrugged. “Kinda hard to sleep when your brain won’t shut up.” 

“Ah- I- yes- I get that. Mine does that, too. It would be really nice if we could get brain muzzles but I don’t think those are possible yet.” 

Kaikaina grinned. “That’s a nice way to take it.” 

Another chill ran over Kaikaina and she pretended it was the wind, not the memories, not the dreams. Just the wind. An arm suddenly settled over her shoulders and she locked up, and then heard a quiet, “Is this okay? I- I had a few friends in high school who used me for warmth. It was- habit- I-” 

He started to withdraw and she reached up and took his hand, her eyes closing as she calmed, a smile curving her lips. “This is okay.” 

She turned and met his smile. “Thank you. I know we just met and all, but… This is really nice.” 

That shining smile, that light-up-the-world smile. “My mother always said to be friendly because you never know who might need it.” 

She lingered in view of that smile another moment, and then laid her head back on his shoulder and turned her eyes to the moon once more. He reached for a cookie. 

“Hey, Michael.” 

“Wha- yes?” 

“If you lived on the moon, would you have pets?” 

“I would want to take Freckles. He is my dog, a very good boy, and…” 

Caboose spoke into the quiet night, and soothed Kaikaina with his lively tones and light-hearted anecdotes. They shared cookies by the moonlight, and she felt, rather quickly, she would sleep peacefully that night. 

She didn’t remember anymore what she’d expected when she left her dorm, but if she’d been asked, she would’ve said she wanted something like this.


End file.
